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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24818917">Avengeance</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/CosmicLightning113/pseuds/CosmicLightning113'>CosmicLightning113</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, BAMF Robbie Reyes, BAMF Skye | Daisy Johnson, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Crossover, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, Other Additional Tags to Be Added</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 03:00:04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,820</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24818917</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/CosmicLightning113/pseuds/CosmicLightning113</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>What if Ghost Rider and Quake helped the Avengers undo Thanos' snap in Endgame?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Clint Barton/Laura Barton, Enoch &amp; Leo Fitz, Leo Fitz/Jemma Simmons, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker &amp; Tony Stark, Robbie Reyes &amp; Skye | Daisy Johnson, Robbie Reyes/Skye | Daisy Johnson, Sif/Thor (Marvel), Steve Rogers &amp; Natasha Romanov, Steve Rogers/Natasha Romanov</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>81</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em> 🎵 Dear Mister Fantasy play us a tune 🎵 </em>
</p><p><em>🎵 Something to make us all happy</em> <em>🎵</em></p><p>
  <em> 🎵 Do anything take us out of this gloom 🎵 </em>
</p><p><em>🎵 Sing a song, play guitar, make it snappy</em> <em>🎵</em></p><p><em>🎵 You are the one who can make us all laugh</em> <em>🎵</em></p><p><em>🎵 </em><em>But doing that you break out in tears</em> <em>🎵</em></p><p>Tony listens to the lyrics playing from the late Peter Quill’s Zune, sitting comfortably on the bridge of the Benatar while Nebula behind him is tucked under the floorboards tinkering with the engine, tirelessly hoping to be able to repair the fuel cells after they were damaged in battle, get moving again to try and find a habitable planet to lick their wounds on. Every spacefarer worth their salt knows Titan is dead smack in the middle of nowhere, millions of lightyears away from anything. Even if they get lucky, this engine is barely stable enough to leave the solar system, much less go that far, they’re gonna die out here, that much was obvious. But it looked like Tony had already accepted that. </p><p>Nebula could see it in him as he sat there, he's given up. The only time he even so much as moved was to press the recording device on his battered helmet. “This thing on?” He asks himself, tapping the helmet a few times for good measure until the blue light fixtures in the eyes begin to glow on and off. He then leans against the wall again sighing.</p><p>“Hey Miss Potts. If you find this recording, don’t feel bad about this. Part of the journey is the end.” He tells her, the defeat and acceptance of it in his voice unmistakable. He failed, not just as a hero, but as a father, as a husband, as a man. Peter died right in his arms from a threat he’s known about since the beginning, and there was nothing he could do about it. What could ever make up for that? </p><p>“I don’t know if you’re ever gonna see this, or if you’re even still… ugh, god I hope so.” The thought didn’t even cross his mind before this. Pepper could very well have died from Thanos too and he’d be none the wiser. </p><p>“Me and the blue meanie over there, we managed to get the ship off the ground and into space before the controls gave out. Now we’re just sitting here, dead in the water, waiting for the void of space to take us. Talk about existential terror, huh? I’m okay with it, it’s a fitting way to go really.” Tony continues to talk to the helmet saying his last words while Nebula climbs out of the floorboards. She can’t help but look at him and be overwhelmed by pity, the color of her flesh reflecting her soul. </p><p>She had never felt sympathy for anyone but herself before, no doubt the Guardians were starting to rub off on her. <em> Idiots. </em>She thinks to herself, embarrassed by these feelings. </p><p>“...and when I drift off I will dream about you, it’s always you.” Tony slowly reaches over and finally ends the recording, afterwards rolling over and laying himself sloppily onto the cold metal floor, gently closing his eyes, preparing for the long night. Nebula towers over the frail terran beneath her, not able to hold back her empathy any longer. She puts Tony upright and in the Captain’s seat and then sits next to him, both together watching the universe unfold around them, it would be a dignified death, they both deserved it. </p><p>Then, in front of their window to the cosmos, dangling orange sparks start to emerge in the air. Rapidly multiplying as they all radiate a powerful golden glow that Tony, even with his eyes shut, isn’t able to ignore. Deciding to open his eyes again and see what’s going on the sparks come together as a portal, a gateway with what looked like brightness on the other side, and through it what Tony could only describe as a demon, dressed in all black with white stripes and a horrible flaming skull. He wanted to scream but his lungs were too weak for anything to come out. </p><p><em> Am I-am I dead? Is this hell? </em>Tony terrifiedly thinks to himself, he’d been an atheist for as long as he could remember, but what if he was wrong? Or what if he’s right, and this is just another one of Thanos’ goons he sent to finish the job. Tony couldn’t tell which option was worse. </p><p>The anxiety starts to evaporate as the flaming skulled creature’s face begins shifting into that of an unthreatening ordinary latino man. “Strange sent me, I’m here to save you.” He says, extending his gloved hand for them to take. This wasn’t a demon at all, no it was an angel, one more rabbit the Doctor was able to pull out of his hat before croaking. </p><hr/><p>“This is a nightmare.” A still bearded Captain America exclaims leaned over looking at a holographic counter of all the confirmed deaths caused by the snap. </p><p>“I’ve had better nightmares than this.” The blonde Black Widow adds on, doing the same. </p><p>Daisy Johnson, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. stares at a display of the confirmed deceased individuals on multiple holo-screens, tears welling in her eyes at images of Melinda May, Jemma Simmons, Alphonso Mackenzie, and Elena Rodriguez as they appear. </p><p>Rhodey walks in the room and gets her attention. “Hey Daisy, uh, who else at S.H.I.E.L.D. is still active?” </p><p>She carefully wipes the tears from her eyes before clearing her throat. “I-I don’t know. Most of the lighthouse disappeared, everyone who didn’t have been accounted for. Fury and Hill were leading a clean up crew in Chicago after the Gravitonium fiasco, but I haven’t heard from them since, they’re probably gone too.” Daisy neglected to mention Coulson, unlike May his dust was never found. No matter if he survived or not, he’s a dead man anyway. She just prayed wherever he was or whatever happened, his last days are peaceful, or <em> were </em> peaceful to put it more realistically. </p><p>Rocket scoffs. “What a waste.” Daisy giving him the side eye for his cynicism. But he couldn’t help it, he just lost his family too. </p><p>“We’re gonna need to regroup at one point, figure out our options.” Bruce Banner points out to everyone still in the room, none of them really listening.</p><p>“Maybe I can help.” A voice ominously mutters standing behind Bruce, everyone turning around to see the same latino man from before suddenly now comfortably in the middle of the Avengers compound, everyone startled by his presence.</p><p>“Robbie!” Daisy shouts out. The first time she’s felt genuine relief since, well, the good old days when they were fighting Aida and the Darkhold together. To think how crazy life has gotten that <em> those </em> would be considered the “good times”.</p><p>“You know him?” Steve asks.</p><p>“Yeah, his name’s Robbie Reyes, the Ghost Rider. He’s a friend, you can trust him.” Daisy clarifies. </p><p>Robbie sidesteps over revealing a weakened Tony and Nebula to be with him too, the Avengers now much more invested in what he had to offer. “Oh my god, Tony.” Steve blurts out rushing over, compassionately helping his former friend-turned enemy stand up when it looked like he was about to nearly collapse. </p><p>“Couldn’t stop him.” Tony mutters aimlessly as Captain America leads him forward. “Neither could I.” Steve consoles him.</p><p>Tony then stops moving and turns around to look Steve in the eye. “I lost the kid.” It took everything in Tony not to cry saying that. </p><p>“Tony, we lost.” Captain America insists, continuing once again to support him, both physically and symbolically. Tony wanted to say something to him, something about all the tension that’s been festering these past years, but he couldn’t, It’s been a long day, and he just wanted to rest now. </p><p>Nebula walks over to Rocket and sits down next to him, they say nothing to each other but both acknowledge that they’re the only ones left, the entire Guardians of the Galaxy, now able to fit on one small bench. </p><p>“Hey.” Daisy shyly tells Robbie slowly walking closer to him. </p><p>“Hey yourself.” Robbie responds to her, a faint smile glistening over his face despite everything that was going on. </p><p>Daisy followed suit. “How’d you find them?” </p><p>“Doctor Strange. I met him after returning the Darkhold, said there was a crisis brewing and I had to save Tony and Nebula, or the plan wouldn’t work.” </p><p>Daisy looks confused. “What plan?” </p><p>“He didn’t tell me.” Robbie confesses, Daisy becoming uneasy at the realization he was running on faith just like the rest of them. </p><hr/><p>The next morning at the compound, the situation looks equally bleak. </p><p>“What’s wrong with him?” Tony asks, now rested and in his trademark sarcastic tone, pointing to Thor who’s sitting alone sulking by himself. </p><p>“He thinks he failed.” Rocket explains. “Which he did, but you know there’s a lot of that going around.” </p><p>“Honestly at this exact second, I thought you were a build-a-bear.” Tony then quips, confusing Rocket. </p><p>Black Widow while finishing her research on the monitor gets everyone’s attention. “World governments are in pieces, the parts that are still working are trying to take a census and it looks like he did exactly what he said he world… Thanos wiped out fifty percent, of all living creatures.” Tony covers his face in grief, Nebula is unsurprised, and Robbie looks down with anger. </p><p>“They’re not dead.” He says contradicting Natasha’s assessment, turning his gaze up to her. “They’re in the Soulworld.” </p><p>“The <em> what </em> now?” Rhodey asks.</p><p>“The Soulworld.” Robbie repeats. “It’s a hidden dimension that can only be accessed through the Soul Stone. When Thanos snapped his fingers he randomly snatched the souls of half of all the people in the universe, and trapped them in the Soulworld. All we have to do is get the Infinity Stones and bring them all back.” </p><p>Captain America raises an eyebrow. “You’re saying we can fix this, just like that?” </p><p>“Just like that.” Robbie confirms to him. </p><p>“Hey, hey, guys, If we do this, we’d be going in shorthanded.” Bruce then points out. </p><p>“You mean ‘cause he killed all our friends?” Rhodey rhetorically asks. </p><p>“Bruce, you can’t be serious. Even if there’s a small chance we can undo this, we owe it to everyone not in this room to try.” Daisy shouts out to him, her own feelings of guilt starting to come up as she pleads it. </p><p>“I’m just saying, if we do this how do we know it’s gonna end any differently than it did before?” Bruce clarifies, less confident but still concerned with his proposition. </p><p>“Because Doctor Strange saw the future, we win, and I’m not going back home until my brother’s there.” Robbie firmly tells him, not taking no for an answer, and If Bruce thought Daisy was intimidating… </p><p>“How are we gonna find him? We’ve been searching through deep space scans and satellites, got nothing.” Captain America wonders, a good question, one Robbie doesn’t know how to answer.</p><p>“I know where he might be.” Nebula says, everyone turning around to face her. “My father has a hidden fortress where he hangs his armor, deep in Chitauri space, the Sanctuary.” </p><p>“I-I think I know how to fly there.” Rocket points out, a tiny bit of excitement growing inside of him at the thought of them being able to undo the aforementioned failure they’re all mourning. </p><p>“Tony, you fought him. Anything we should know about?” Captain America asks as Tony begins to laugh at him, the whole room going quiet as they’re forced to sit through at the awkward forced chuckling. </p><p>“Now you want my help? Why not years ago when I kept telling you this was coming? Seems a little too late now.” Everyone becomes irritated with Tony’s <em> I told you so </em> act except for Captain America, who remains patient. </p><p>“Tony, I’m gonna need you to focus...” </p><p>“...and I needed you.” He says cutting Steve off. “What we needed was a suit of armor around the world!” Tony angrily gets up out of his chair and bangs his hands on the table. “Without it I said we’d lose and you said we’d do that together too, well guess what Cap, we lost, and you weren’t there.” Tony makes a beeline inches away from Steve, pointing his finger directly in his face. </p><p>“So no, I’ve got nothing for you. No coordinates, no clues, no strategies, no trust, nothing.” Tony then pulls his shirt down and yanks the Arc Reactor from his chest, forcefully pressing it against Steve’s. </p><p>“This is your mess, you clean it up!” Captain America has no words, two years of pent up aggression from Siberia all viciously ripped open at the worst possible moment. Tony can’t handle it and walks out of the room, the implication known to all that he wasn’t coming with them.</p><p>Ghost Rider didn’t mind, grabbing his trusty chain he begins heading for the door. </p><p>“Where are you going now?” Rhodey inquires.</p><p>Robbie turns around midstep and faces him. “I’m going to kill Thanos and bring our families home, you all coming or not?” </p><p>Thor for the first time the entire conversation gets up and stands in front of Robbie, the two men unflinchingly staring each other down in a nonverbal confrontation. Ghost Rider didn’t so much as blink and neither did the God of Thunder. Thor then lifts his hand as Stormbreaker flies across the Compound from storage and into his palm, a thundering strike heard as the metal makes contact with his flesh. Ghost Rider still doesn’t move a muscle. <em> Impressive.  </em></p><p>“I like this one.” Thor declares. </p><p>With that said Thor was in and Captain America knew, unlike Tony, he couldn’t hide out and feel sorry for himself anymore, he had a mission to do. “Let’s go get this son of a bitch.” </p><hr/><p>The Benatar blasts out of Earth’s atmosphere while Rocket and Nebula put in the coordinates for Sanctuary. All the Avengers except for Iron Man are secured in their seats behind them.</p><p>“Okay, quick show of hands, who here’s been to space?” Only Ghost Rider, Quake, Bruce and Thor raise their hands, Nebula rolls her eyes. </p><p>“Oh boy.” Rocket mutters as the Benatar takes off at warp speed. </p><p>“Approaching jump in three, two, one.” Nebula announces as they travel through a wormhole leading directly to Sanctuary’s location. </p><p>The ship floats quietly in the massive asteroid field while everyone starts to prepare. </p><p>“Hulk, please, we all need you, buddy.” Bruce begs his stronger half. </p><p>“No one need Hulk, only Banner!” Hulk shouts out, Bruce vaguely turning greener and larger as it’s said. </p><p>Quake absent mindedly makes small tremors in her hands before deciding takes her metal Gauntlets off, the tremors becoming much more powerful already as she cracks her knuckles. They were unnecessary, she wouldn’t be holding back against Thanos. </p><p>“Let’s not keep the big man waiting.” Robbie tells everyone as his eyes glow and his face starts to rupture and peel, revealing his flaming skull underneath, all of his teammates either frightened or delighted by the sight of it. </p><p>The Benatar lands and everyone starts getting out, Captain America goes last looking over his locket of Peggy for what could be the last time, Natasha stays with him. “This is gonna work Steve.” she assures him. </p><p>“I know it will.” He insists, closing the locket. “Because I don’t know what I’m going to do if it doesn’t.” </p><p>Captain America and Black Widow leave the ship while the Avengers explore Sanctuary, climbing up the blue and black spiral staircase to the throne room, Thanos is nowhere to be found.</p><p>“Are you sure he’s here, Nebula?” Black Widow asks. </p><p>“I can’t imagine anywhere else he would be.” She replies. </p><p>“Keep looking then, if he’s here, we’ll find him.” Captain America commands. </p><p>They all follow his orders and search the entire rock, until Rocket spots something. </p><p>“Oh no…” He mutters as everyone gathers around. It’s the Infinity Gauntlet laying on the ground, singed and burned nearly beyond recognition emptied of all six stones. Ghost Rider gently picks it up and examines it, turning his skull human again he shuts his eyes and clenches his jaw. </p><p>“The stones are gone.” He somberly tells everyone. The usual confidence he displayed at the Compound now painfully absent. </p><p>“What do you mean they’re gone? He just used them in Wakanda!” Bruce in the Hulkbuster suit probes. </p><p>“He must’ve used the stones to destroy the stones. Nothing else could’ve done this to the Gauntlet. It’s a worthless piece of junk now!” Robbie lashes out furiously hurling it off to the side as hard as he can, bouncing off the ground until flying the Asteroid into the vast space surrounding them. </p><p>The Avengers are all petrified in place, unable to move or react out of some sort of superstitious fear any acknowledgement of the situation would make it real, as if it wasn’t already. Rhodey’s practical mind isn’t bound to such beliefs. </p><p>“We-we don’t know that, he might’ve taken them somewhere…” </p><p>“...the Ghost Rider is right. My father has always used the stones to do everything he intended, they served him no purpose now outside of temptation. He knew we’d come here, and he left it to send us a message. He won.” </p><p>With Nebula’s confirmation the harrowing reality began to set in, the snap could never be reversed now, those gone would stay gone, and all hope is lost. </p><p>“My brother is dead.” Robbie tells himself, shaking with all encompassing heartbreak and disappointment. </p><p>“So is Bucky.” Captain America adds on, feeling the same way.</p><p>“How is this possible? What-what about Strange’s plan? Didn’t he see the future where we win!?” Black Widow points out. </p><p>“The future changed.” Daisy quietly says, breathing heavily while she thinks about what changed it, S.H.I.E.L.D. stopping the world from being destroyed just for… this!? For everyone to die anyway!? Not even Kasius was cruel enough to kill half the entire universe. Talbot, Hale, Voss, they all tried to prevent this, they knew what needed to be done but she was too selfish trying to play God. </p><p>“It shouldn’t be this way, I did this.” Quake, the Destroyer of Worlds after all. </p><p>“No… I did…” Thor corrects her, getting choked up at the memory. “I should’ve gone for the head.” That was the truth nobody could console him from. No matter what happened before that led to Thanos’ triumph, Thor could’ve stopped it all had he just sliced Stormbreaker a little higher. But he didn’t, and his people now go unavenged, as does everyone elses.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>One year later. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>A whole year living in Thanos’ world and the effects have been felt by everyone. Baseball Stadiums that were once filled by adoring fans are now abandoned, boats that were being used the day of the Decimation have now all floated back to shore… empty. An entire population is in mourning, and that’s what the Avengers have to fix, it’s all they can to fix. There’s no changing what happened so all they can do is teach everyone how to pick up the pieces, build a better world, not just for themselves, but each other. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steve Rogers has taken this mission statement more seriously than his fellow heroes. Traveling around the world, hosting support groups anywhere he can free of charge, just like Sam did. Helping people figure out now that they’re gone, where can they go? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, uh, I finally decided to ask Karen out… on a, uh, a real date this time.” Foggy Nelson tells his Decimation support group inside of the empty convention center. A few attendees clapping for him but the room mostly staying quiet, the air was so heavy with emotion it made it impossible for any good news to break through, but it still wasn’t enough to stop Captain America from trying. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s great, I know you’ve been wanting to do that for awhile. How did the date go?” Steve curiously asks, looking him square in the eye, offering this broke Lawyer just as much respect as he would any of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know, we talked about how things have changed, how much we miss Matt.” Foggy chuckles uncomfortably before his eyes start to mist. “Then she, uh, started crying just before dessert, and then I did too…” One lone tear falls down Foggy’s eye remembering it, how hurt they both were in the moment, and still are now. “We’re, uh, going to see each other tonight again actually.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steve nods his head in approval over Foggy’s resilience and turns his attention to the rest of the group. “Taking the first step isn’t easy, you never know where you’re gonna end up, but you’re also never gonna move forward if you don’t try.” Everyone looks depressed hearing that advice again, even Steve who finds his gaze turned down to the carpet, not knowing if he’ll be able to hold it together if he sees someone else start to cry. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And that’s what life is… always forward, never back. Little baby steps to try and become whole again.” He turns his eyes up, unsurprisingly the group is in tears, but Steve finds it in himself to stay strong for them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re full of shit.” One of the attendees blurts out. “You don’t know what it’s like to lose everyone you love, everyone you’ve ever cared about, all in a second!” Everyone stares at the ranting man in disgust except for Captain America himself, who stays as still as a statue. “No, it’s okay guys, it’s okay. He’s entitled to his opinion.” Still so polite, even after everything that’s happened. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steve tries to position himself more comfortably in the fold up chair he was sitting in, knowing this might take awhile. “I lost everyone I ever knew when I went into the Ice in ‘45. Friends, family, the girl I loved. All gone.” Reflexively Steve’s head arcs down again, looking at the carpet again instead of his attendees. “The only way I got past it was to just... move on, no matter how hard it was, find a new purpose.” He looks up again, now feeling more confident. “That’s what we all need to do now. We survived the Decimation guys, world’s in our hands, and we gotta do something with it. Otherwise, Thanos should’ve just killed all of us.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>That was the lesson Steve tried his hardest to get them to accept, something he’s been forced to live by his whole life, the only way to preserve through the never-ending grief of loss, </span>
  <em>
    <span>move on. </span>
  </em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>San Francisco isn’t faring much better post-Decimation than New York. The economy crashed once the world went into chaos, Silicon Valley’s productivity came to a grinding halt. Entire neighborhoods were abandoned after its residents disappeared and then just never got repopulated. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The structure of all the houses were now rotting to the wood line and unkept vegetation overflowed into every nook and cranny from months of neglect. The only living species in sight were rats and termite infestations that were lurking just under the piles of leftover garbage. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was a serenity to it all, a pristine quiet of nature completely devoid of all human contact. Until a red blur starts rapidly expanding in the middle of the street, stopping once it’s the size of an average man, who loses balance once the expansion ceases, falling onto his side as he groans in a mixture of exhaustion and discomfort. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ugh, I accidentally went into one of those Time Vortexes you warned me about, Janet… sorry.” Ant-Man says as he disables his mask, now looking around to see he’s no longer on the rooftop. Confused, he gets up and looks around more. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hope? Hank? Janet? What’s-what’s going on?” He shouts out, the three of them and his van seemingly nowhere to be found in this desolate neighborhood. The likes of which started to unnerve Scott, who couldn’t help but notice how out of place the dilapidated look was in the bustling, overcrowded San Francisco he knew. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Am I even in San Francisco anymore? Why wouldn’t I? Then again, why wouldn’t I be on the roof with Hope!? </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Scott starts walking to try and find some answers, two blocks later the houses start to look habited again as a young boy on a bicycle, the first living soul he’s seen yet, passes by paying no mind to the stranger in the funny costume. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey kid?” Scott yells out to him, he stops riding and turns his head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What the hell happened here?” Scott desperately asks him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The child looks at him with resentful snarl only to then turn around and continue to ride, as if what happened was too unspeakable to even utter. That didn’t help the mood. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Scott keeps his spirits up and stays on the move, eventually reaching the bay shoreline, only to see what was Golden Gate Park replaced by some type of memorial. Complete with giant plaques, crying tourists and everything. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God…</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Scott wasn’t an idiot, he could put the pieces together that whatever happened has to be connected to this. Some type of genocide or nuclear apocalypse or something must’ve gone down while he was in the Quantum Realm, and he missed it. </span>
  <em>
    <span>What if it killed Cassie? No! It couldn't! </span>
  </em>
  <span>Scott nervously reassures herself, it doesn’t work. </span>
  <em>
    <span>I have to check. </span>
  </em>
  <span>He runs over as fast as he can, frantically reading off every name on each plaque until finding the “L” section where he desperately searches hoping with every fiber of his being not to find Cassie, and he doesn’t, instead seeing his </span>
  <em>
    <span>own </span>
  </em>
  <span>name instead, </span>
  <em>
    <span>Scott Lang</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Everyone thought he was dead, even Cassie. </span>
  <em>
    <span>I have to go find her!</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>After rushing to Maggie’s house Scott bashfully bangs on the door and rings the doorbell what felt like a thousand times, until an adolescent girl answers the door. It took Scott by surprise at first, but he knew that face, </span>
  <em>
    <span>Cassie.</span>
  </em>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Dad?” She whispers opening the door as fast she can to hug him tighter than she ever had before, Scott reciprocates with the same ferocity. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re…you’re so big.” He observes noticing her apparent growth spurt in the time he’s been gone. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Cassie lets him inside where they both see Luis making himself at home in the kitchen, he must’ve helped raise Cassie in Scott’s absence, his jet black hair just the tiniest bit gray, but other than that he looked mostly the same. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who was it?” Luis asks until looking over to see Cassie standing there in the living room with his thought to be deceased best friend. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Scott!” He shouts out rushing over to him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luis!” Scott yells in response as they two friends hug, Luis pulling him in tight enough to actually knock the air out of Scott for a second, as if he missed him as much as Cassie did. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Dude, you gotta tell me what’s going, and please, for once, spare no details.” Scott begs while crossing his arms, waiting for him to go on one of his fast paced convoluted stories explaining what happened to the world.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luis though just stands there, his throat moving but his mouth staying shut, not saying anything. He couldn’t, this wasn’t a joke, this was bad, bad enough that the most optimistic person he knew was at a loss for words for how to describe it. </span>
</p><hr/><p>
  <em>
    <span>🎵 Let me take you on a little trip 🎵</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>🎵 My supersonic ship's at your disposal 🎵</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>🎵 If you feel so inclined. Well alright. 🎵</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>🎵 We're gonna travel faster than light 🎵</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>🎵 So do up your overcoat tight 🎵</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>🎵 And you'll go anywhere you want to decide. Well alright. 🎵</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>The song continues to play gently in the middle of space until the Benatar flies by at warp speed, its wings on fire as Ghost Rider single handedly flies the ship while simultaneously enchanting it with demonic Hellfire the same way he did his Hellcharger back on Earth. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Rocket! I can’t hold off those Confederate Ships forever!” Ghost Rider growls to the Raccoon and Nebula frantically pressing buttons on the ship’s main control board. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you think I’m over here doing, Hot Head. These guys are the best of the best, our weapons can only do so much even with your witch voodoo.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nebula glances over at the quadrant map and gets an idea. “D’Rill is only four clicks away, the atmosphere is thick enough that if we go right now we might be able to hide long enough to wait them out.” She turns around and faces her flaming skulled captain. “It’s your choice, Robbie.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ghost Rider contemplates his decision for a second. </span>
  <em>
    <span>I could kill Kasius and all his Confederate forces with my bare hands.</span>
  </em>
  <span> Robbie knew this was true, the Ghost Rider was a force to be reckoned with and could survive anything the Confederacy threw at him, but there was still one caveat he couldn’t get over. </span>
  <em>
    <span>These guys can’t, not even Daisy. I can’t lose them. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“Take us to D’rill.” Ghost Rider commands as Nebula prepares the jump drive and they disappear into a wormhole. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Three more clicks later, the Benatar is transported to the surface of a green, gaseous, geyser filled planet, </span>
  <em>
    <span>D’rill.</span>
  </em>
  <span> Nebula quickly checks the map again, seeing nothing in sight. “We’re clear.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Rocket hunches over and sighs in relief. “That was a cluster…” Before he can finish the sound of Ghost Rider’s flaming head transforming back into human flesh drowns it out. After a year Robbie’s look hadn’t changed much outside of the white frosted tips now gleaming on the front of his hair. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes, quickly opening them again once something comes up on the Viewscreen. “You have violated galactic ordinance and entered D’rillian atmosphere without clearance. Prepare to be boarded.” </span>
  <em>
    <span>Aw shit. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>The D’rillian vessel approaches the Benatar and connects to it. The soldiers inside along with the ambassador then march on prepared for anything, only to come across </span>
  <em>
    <span>Quake </span>
  </em>
  <span>standing before them alone in the Docking Bay. Her hair dyed blonde after a year in space and her face aged at least five years in that time. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Present authorization, Terran.” The ambassador spits to her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We don’t have any.” Daisy insists. “We didn’t expect to come here on such short notice, if you let us go we’ll be on our way.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The ambassador becomes angered at her excuses. “We make no exceptions here. You either do as we say, or we take you and your comrades to the geyser mines.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The soldiers all prepare their guns. “So I’ll ask again, where is your </span>
  <em>
    <span>authorization.” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Quake lets out a coy smile at his stubbornness. It meant that she was allowed to make this a little more </span>
  <em>
    <span>fun</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Daisy tells him as she opens her palms and, all at once, Quakes the soldiers’ guns apart. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ghost Rider, Nebula and Rocket afterwards emerge from the shadows flanking Quake by her side, only making the ambassador and his backup all the more frightened. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Now get out of here, and we’ll let you live to cry about it.” Rocket tells him as they all run away in a desperate panic. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Robbie then presses a button which closes the Docking Bay door and smiles. “We still have 10,000 units left over from our last job. Now that the Confederacy is off our tails we can treat ourselves to something nice with it. What do you say?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let’s go to Kitson and see if we can’t double it.” Quake suggests. “Worse case scenario we’ll get a vacation out of it to unwind.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Now that sounds like something the Guardians of the Galaxy would do!” Rocket announces, taking great pleasure with every passing day that his new family starts to become more like his old one. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He is right, the old Guardians were all degenerates.” Nebula confirms. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then I guess we are too.” Robbie proudly states as if it were a Guardians of the Galaxy staple. “Set the coordinates, we can check in with Nat on the way there, give her a heads up.” </span>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Dusk was settling over the Avengers Facility as Black Widow stood in front of her desk, dressed in nothing but a casual crop top, jeans and fuzzy socks talking to holograms of the Ghost Rider, Rhodey and Okoye, her only company in the whole compound. Natasha’s red roots had almost completely overtaken all of her hair with only the dyed blonde tips still remaining, the opposite of Daisy. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“An underwater earthquake? Where was it?” Natasha concernedly asks Okoye. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The Atlantic Ocean. But It occurred under the African Plate.” She explains.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What are we going to do about that?” Natasha asks, her eyes widening with the prospect of a new adventure coming about from it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>You</span>
  </em>
  <span> will do nothing about it, Wakanda will investigate alone. We can’t afford to get in any more trouble with the Sokovia Accords.” Recent events are the only reason they got exempt from hiding the Winter Soldier from Ross in 2016, Wakanda can’t get caught up in that again, especially with no King like T’Challa to protect them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right. Retirement sucks.” Natasha insists. She wasn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>technically</span>
  </em>
  <span> retired, but only being allowed to act on the whims of the United Nations sure felt like it. Avenging was the one constant in her life, the one thing Natasha wanted to do to mourn her grief from the Decimation, and they had to take that away too. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How are things going on your end, Robbie?” Black Widow then wonders, changing the subject. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know, what’s happening on Earth is happening everywhere else. Me and the Guardians are just trying to help in any way we can, the same way Quill did.” Robbie announces to her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The Confederacy still giving you trouble?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nothing we can’t handle.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Natasha nods her head. “That’s, uh, that’s good to hear.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Listen, me and the Guardians, we’re going to take a much earned vacation for the next couple days. So, if it’s not too much to ask we’d like not to be bothered.” She completely understands. Vacations were everything these days, small breaks from the never ending dumpster fire that was life. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, no problem, just tell me when you get back.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks.” He doesn’t show any gratitude in his voice, but Natasha could tell it was there. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright, uh, well, on that note I have nothing planned, this channel is always active. If anything goes sideways, anyone’s making trouble where they shouldn’t, it comes through here.” She tells them all as Robbie, Okoye, and Rhodey all hang up. Afterwards, Natasha sits down and puts her face into her hands before exhaling into it, the warmth of her breath feeling good on her skin as it melted the winter chill that was wafting through the empty facility. Or maybe, that wasn’t her… </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’d offer to cook you dinner, but you seem pretty miserable already.” Steve tells her while cutely leaning against a bookcase. </span>
  <em>
    <span>He must’ve snuck in, damn, he’s a better spy than me. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just who I wanted to see.” Natasha whispers springing out of her seat as she dances over and caresses his cheeks, planting a firm but tender kiss onto him, Steve reciprocates it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I missed you too.” He says looking down to her, Natasha can’t help but smile, a warm and bright smile, big enough to light up the poorly illuminated room. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They both sit down at the table adjacent to each one another, clearly enamored but also trying to show restraint in order to impress the other. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How did support group meeting go?” Natasha inquires. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It went well, I think we’re really making progress with the Manhattan chapter. Sam would’ve been proud…” Anyone else would’ve been skeptical to make an accusation about a dead man’s thoughts, but not Steve, he knew his friend and that he would have approved of this. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What about you?” She then wonders. “You’re grieving just as much as they are.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steve smiles and lets out a small chuckle. “Nat, I’ve already found my place again.” He reaches his hand across the table and holds hers, she blushes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know what I did to deserve this… to deserve you, to deserve Captain America loving me.” Natasha glances up at the ceiling unable to look Steve in the eye as she says it. He could do so much better than her, hell, he </span>
  <em>
    <span>deserved</span>
  </em>
  <span> it. Even after all the good she did with S.H.I.E.L.D. as an Avenger there will always be red in her ledger. Steve was a good person, she wasn’t.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steve starts to frown hearing Natasha doubt herself. “Don’t-don’t say that, you keep me grounded, you-you show me that anyone can choose to be a hero, to do the right thing, no matter where they came from, and I have no shame in saying that’s the woman I love.” Black Widow smiles again, he could always get her to no matter how she was feeling. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Natasha was a far cry from what Steve was used to. Peggy, Sharon, born good, always following the rules, just like him. If you asked him seven years ago if Steve would ever see himself being with the Black Widow he would’ve scoffed. But the world’s changed since 1945, and he’s changed with it, </span>
  <em>
    <span>he had to. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Peggy’s the past, Natasha’s the future, and you can’t go back in time. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Bloop</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>A notification hologram appears in front of Black Widow, informing her someone’s outside the Compound. Probably a postal worker delivering one of those </span>
  <em>
    <span>Paint by Numbers</span>
  </em>
  <span> sets she ordered off Amazon last week. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Better just tell them to leave it and I’ll pick it up tomorrow.</span>
  </em>
  <span> Natasha instructs herself as she casually brushes her finger across the hologram to open up the communication channel. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hello?” She casually asks. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh, yes, hi, this is Scott Lang. We met a few years ago at the airport.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She gasps hearing his voice. </span>
  <em>
    <span>It can’t be. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Steve seems to have the same reaction as he quickly flips on the front door camera seeing none other than Scott Lang and his ugly brown van parked at the Compound gate. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“...I’m the guy who got really big. Ant-Man? I-I know you know that!” Scott continues to plead as the two heroes stare in shock. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is this an old message?” Steve wonders with his last drops of skepticism. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“...It’s live.” Natasha affirms extinguishing his last bits of doubt. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>After they let him in, Ant-Man didn’t say a word. He just keeps walking in circles muttering to himself inaudible nonsense, it was off putting, especially with everything else that was going on. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Scott, are you okay?” Captain America asks him. Scott doesn’t answer, instead ceasing his movement as he looks them both in the eye. “Have either of you ever studied Quantum Physics?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh, a little in University.” Natasha says. Steve just shakes his head </span>
  <em>
    <span>no</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright, so right before… Thanos happened I was doing an experiment in this place called the Quantum Realm.” Scott can see both their eyes glaze over and realizes he needs to elaborate. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The Quantum Realm is this microscopic universe you need to be incredibly small to get into. My girlfriend, Hope…” Scott becomes boastful being able to call her his girlfriend again, but grounds himself when he remembers the context. “...she was supposed to pull me out, but then she disappeared and I got stuck in there.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Natasha’s face turns a shade of green just imagining that. </span>
  <em>
    <span>What a nightmare. </span>
  </em>
  <span>“I’m sorry that must’ve been a very long year for you.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Scott’s reaction though didn’t match hers at all, </span>
  <em>
    <span>why not?</span>
  </em>
  <span> “But that’s just it, for me it was only thirty seconds.” Both Steve and Natasha are lost. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There’s a lot of weird stuff in the Quantum Realm, including these things called Time Vortexes. When I was trapped I panicked and got sucked into one of them until it spit me out a year later… two days ago.” </span>
  <em>
    <span>Woah. </span>
  </em>
  <span>University did not prepare Natasha for this. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I keep thinking what if we found a way to… manipulate these Time Vortexes, like, actually control them to travel wherever we wanted through time. To say… before Thanos.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait, are you talking about a time machine?” Steve asks as Scott’s plan was starting to sound like insanity all over again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, it’s not a… well, yeah, a time machine. But this could actually work! Think about it. The physics of time travel have been known for decades; we just never had the means to actually do it, but now we do!” Their eyes weren’t glazed anymore but they aren't saying anything. </span>
  <em>
    <span>That can’t be a good sign. </span>
  </em>
  <span>“Please, please, say something.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think I know who we can talk to.” Steve insists. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
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